Emmanuel Macron signed a deal with Vietnam on Monday for 20 Airbus planes, among other agreements, in the first visit by a French president to Hanoi in nearly a decade.
The Airbus deal with VietJet for 20 A330neo aircraft, worth an estimated €7 billion, follows a previous agreement for 20 European-made aeroplanes.
The French leader struck other deals — said to be more than 30 — in a bid to expand a trade relationship worth €5.3 billion, including cooperation on energy, Earth-observation satellites, vaccines and railways.
“It is truly a new page being written between our two countries … a desire to write an even more ambitious page of the relationship between Vietnam and France, between ASEAN and the European Union,” Macron said.
France's push towards stronger links with its former colony marks an attempt to offer a "third way" outside of Washington and Beijing.
Macron's trip comes amid threats of 50% US tariffs on EU goods. Vietnam, which has also been threatened with 47% tariffs by US President Donald Trump, is considering purchasing Boeing planes to reduce its trade surplus with the US.
Macron's three-leg Southeast Asia tour will continue with visits to Indonesia and Singapore.
